Jayd Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 A sex-linked mutation is one that is carried on one of the sex chromosomes. When dealing with sex-linked mutations in birds, it is important to note that humans' and birds' sex chromosomes do not work in the same way. While a human female is homozygous (which means that she has two copies of the same sex chromosome -- "XX") and a male human is heterozygous ("XY"), it is the other way around in birds; female birds are heterozygous, and males are homozygous. This means that females can have only one copy of a sex-linked mutation (the mutation is carried on the X chromosome), and it follows that females cannot be split to a sex-linked mutation. If a female does not visually possess the sex-linked trait, she does not carry it at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now